Frank L. Battisti is Conductor Emeritus of the New England Conservatory (NEC) Wind Ensemble. He founded the Ensemble in 1969 and conducted it for thirty years. Under his direction the NEC Wind Ensemble was recognized as one of the premier ensembles of its kind in the United States and throughout the world. Its performances as well as its recordings earned high critical praise and accolades. Performances by the NEC Wind Ensemble were broadcast over National Public Radio (NPR) and other classical music radio stations throughout the United States and the world. In 2000, Battisti was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Longy School of Music Chamber Winds. Dr. Battisti founded the Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artists Wind Ensemble and was its Music Director and Conductor from 2000 to 2004. While at Tanglewood, he inaugurated the Tanglewood Institute’s and Tanglewood Music Center’s unique Collaborative Composition Project. In 2005, Dr. Battisti became Conductor Emeritus of the Young Artists Wind Ensemble.

During his seventy-year career, Dr. Battisti commissioned and premiered over sixty works for wind band/ensemble by distinguished American and international composers including Warren Benson, Leslie Bassett, Robert Ceely, John Harbison, Robin Holloway, Witold Lutosławski, William Thomas McKinley, Vincent Persichetti, Michael Colgrass, Daniel Pinkham, Gunther Schuller, Robert Selig, Ivan Tcherepnin, Sir Michael Tippett, William Kraft, Robert Ward, and Alec Wilder. Critics, composers, and colleagues praised Battisti for his commitment to contemporary music and his outstanding performances.

Dr. Battisti guest conducted numerous university, college, military, professional, and high school bands and wind ensembles throughout the United States and around the world, including the United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Scandinavia, Australia, China, Taiwan, Canada, South America, South Korea, Iceland, and the former USSR.

He is Past President of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and a member of the American Bandmasters Association (ABA). He founded the National Wind Ensemble Conference, World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble (MYWE), and New England College Band Association (NECBA). He also served on the Standard Award Panel of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and was a member of the Awards Committee for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts.

Dr. Battisti is considered one of the foremost authorities on wind music literature. His articles on wind ensemble/band literature, conducting, and music education have appeared in numerous national and international professional journals and magazines. He has fourteen published books including The Twentieth Century American Wind Band/Ensemble: History, Development, and Literature (1995), The Winds of Change (2002), On Becoming a Conductor (2007), The Conductor’s Challenge (2016), and The New Winds of Change (2018). He also served as an editor for various music publishing companies and is currently a consulting editor for The Instrumentalist magazine.

In 1986 and again in 1993, Dr. Battisti was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, UK. His honors and awards include an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Ithaca College, Ithaca College Lifetime Achievement Award, a Honorary Doctor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, the first recipient of the Conservatory’s Louis and Adrienne Krasner Excellence in Teaching Award in 1997, the New England Conservatory Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award, a honorary degree from Rhode Island College, Lowell Mason Award from the Massachusetts Music Educators Association in 1998, New England College Band Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic’s Medal of Honor in 2001, and the National Band Directors Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts award in 2006.